Pricking the bubble

The second blow that the central go- vernment dealt to the red-hot property market has come much sooner than expected. Just two days after it decided to lift down payments and second-home loan rates, the State Council announced on Saturday that commercial banks can refuse to issue loans to third-home buyers in cities where housing prices are rising too quickly.

Such continuous, heavy moves are meant to drive home the message that the government is very serious about reining in runaway property price hikes.

After several rounds of tightening measures failed to cool the property market in recent years, housing prices in many major cities have not only reached record highs but also accelerated their surge. Last month, property prices in 70 major cities rose 11.7 percent from a year earlier, the highest since records began in 2005.